(1) Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to an industrial back support, and more specifically, to an industrial back support which provides a concerted combination of abdominal and lower back support.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Back injuries have become one of the leading causes of disability. At some point in their lives, most individuals will suffer from back pain of one sort or another; such pain can be long-lasting and debilitating for many people. The causes of back pain are varied: for some people, a one-time over-stressing of back muscles and ligaments can cause lasting pain. For others, the pain can be caused by naturally poor posture or by jobs or hobbies which require that they assume certain positions, in particular, for long periods of time. For still others, motions such as bending, lifting, and the like which are repeatedly performed can cause back discomfort, particularly when proper body alignment is not maintained throughout the motion.
To help reduce the occurrence of such injuries, federal workplace guidelines, as well as many employers, often require that employees engaged in particular jobs wear back support devices of some variety.
Examples of prior art back supports are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,421,809, 5,388,274, and 4,475,543 to Rise, Glover et al., and Brooks et al., respectively. Each of these patents describes a support device which provides direct support for a wearer's spinal region through the provision of a pad proximate a wearer's lower back.
It has been found, however, that the abdominal muscles play a large part in the support of a person's spine, and thus the aforementioned supports, by only providing support to a wearer's spinal region, have failed to provide optimal back support for their wearers. Further, because the majority of the human waist region is fleshy, its configuration changes during certain motions, such as bending, due to muscle contraction and the like. Thus, because the aforementioned patents describe rigid support directly proximate the lower spine only, their effectiveness in supporting a person's back during certain motions can tend to be limited.
Several other patents describe supports which include some type of abdominal support, e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,433,697 and 5,105,806 to Woodhouse et al. and Cox, respectively. The patent to Woodhouse et al. describes the provision of a rigid abdominal pad for securement to a conventional leather-type weight lifting belt; thus the device would likely not provide the comfort and support levels desired for many uses. The patent to Cox describes a back brace having first and second substantially rigid dome-shaped support elements, one for positioning proximate a wearer's back and the other for positioning proximate his abdomen. The rigid support elements are secured together by first and second fastening belts. The support element for positioning proximate the wearer's abdomen is sized to extend across the full width of the front lower torso region of the wearer, and in a preferred form of the invention, it curves around the wearer's sides to some degree; thus it would limit user flexibility and could tend to irritate the prominences of the ilium (hip bones).
Thus, a need exists for an industrial back support device which provides an optimal amount of back support, yet is comfortable to wear.